Australian Information Security Incident Reported: November 17 2019

Australian Medical Data Breach November 2019: A hack at one of NSW’s largest drug rehabilitation services, Adele House has left hundreds of patients at risk

A major security breach at one of NSW’s largest drug rehabilitation services has left hundreds of past and current patients at risk, with many reporting their bank, tax and superannuation accounts, as well as highly confidential records, have been hacked.

Source: Drug rehab patients’ files hacked | The Australian
More reports from: The Australian.

Adele House runs in-house drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs in Werrington, in Sydney’s west, and Coffs Harbour, on the NSW mid-north coast, and is often a last resort for drug addicts who are referred to the centres through the state’s drug court ­system.

The Australian understands the security breach occurred in early August when a resident with a criminal record for fraud was given access to a work computer, despite a strict policy to bar all ­residents from access to com­puters or phones.

Part 2

NSW Health Minister demands action on records hacking

Source: NSW Health Minister demands action on records hacking | The Australian

The NSW Health Minister has issued­ a furious “please explain” to one of the state’s largest drug and alcohol rehabilitation providers after it failed to inform NSW Health its confidential patient records had been the target of a “cyber attack” three months ago.

But Sydney lawyer Melinda Griffiths said Adele House’s failure­ to warn former residents earlier or offer ­assistance for those who had been affected had only added to their “trauma”.

Ms Griffiths said she had been approached by 12 former patients in the past fortnight, all of them reporting widespread hacking of their Medicare, banking and superannuation accounts. In several­ instances, loans had been taken out in their names.